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101 Word Short Stories

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Time Travel Tests

August 27, 2022 14 Comments

By David Lowis

They’d built a time machine that could only travel forward in time. To test it they sent their chief engineer, Bryan, one minute into the future.

The machine vanished and they huddled around a stopwatch.

Thirty seconds later the time machine reappeared. A much older Bryan emerged, grinning. “We did it, guys! In the future, we enhanced the machine to travel back in time. And we’re testing it by returning to now!”

As the stopwatch hit zero, an explosion rocked the building. The screech of buckling metal told the tale: a catastrophic coming together of two time machines in the present.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jason says

    August 27, 2022 at 7:16 am

    Love it!

    Reply
    • David says

      August 29, 2022 at 4:07 am

      Thanks for taking the time to read and comment.

      Reply
  2. Corey says

    August 27, 2022 at 11:47 am

    Bravo. Very good read of man’s blunders through time

    Reply
    • David says

      August 29, 2022 at 4:08 am

      Thanks for reading and commenting, Corey.

      Reply
  3. Barry O'Farrell says

    August 28, 2022 at 6:59 pm

    Clever!
    This is clever.

    Reply
    • David says

      August 29, 2022 at 4:08 am

      Thanks very much, Barry.

      Reply
  4. Russell says

    August 28, 2022 at 11:08 pm

    Nice! The moment has been captured very well. I can relate, too, since I’ve been writing a story involving time travel. Well done.

    Reply
    • David says

      August 29, 2022 at 4:09 am

      Thanks Russell and good luck with your story.

      Reply
  5. Chetana Vaishnavi says

    August 31, 2022 at 10:19 am

    Excellent.
    Well on time ???

    Reply
    • David says

      September 1, 2022 at 3:42 am

      Thanks for reading and commenting, Chetana.

      Reply
  6. Richard Temple says

    August 31, 2022 at 10:25 am

    Excellent. Mind bending paradoxes aplenty. Just as it should be!

    Reply
    • David says

      September 1, 2022 at 3:43 am

      Thanks Richard, I appreciate the comment.

      Reply
  7. Melissa says

    August 31, 2022 at 2:32 pm

    Oops! They almost thought of everything, lol. You fit quite a story in so few words, very enjoyable!

    Reply
    • David says

      September 1, 2022 at 3:44 am

      Thanks, glad you enjoyed it Melissa.

      Reply

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